Is there anything like a Runco ls-5 but with 3D coming up? Its been a long time since there has been any upgrade of the ls-5. I would love to get the ls-5 but without 3D, I will feel like I'm missing something. Give me a upgrade to the ls-5 with better blacks, frame interpolation, and 3D and I'm buying. Otherwise, I have to look at something else.

I'm in the exact same boat as you. In that price range, but want the next generation. I am also going to get another anamorphic lens with whatever projector I end up with.

I'm in the exact same boat as you. In that price range, but want the next generation. I am also going to get another anamorphic lens with whatever projector I end up with.

Yeah, I didn't want to spend $7K for an LS-5 plus $1K for short throw lens, so I went with the LS-3. It only cost $4K after discount plus lens. I can't see the difference between the LS-5 and LS-3 and didn't need H-shift. It's scary buying 2008 technology, but there haven't been that many full size single chip DLP projectors that have come out in the last few years. Samsung was too expensive, Optoma has the smaller DMD and I don't trust their reliability. Sharp has a new DLP which looks interesting. BENQ has been active with models, InFocus, not so much, haven't seen the Mitsubishi. I wanted good customer service and a proven product, so for $4K, the Runco LS-3 fits the bill, since I have no interest in 3D. My Panamorph M380 still works great with this projector, which slides into place when triggered by the Runco. I saw a bit of Godfather I last night and was amazed by the blacks and CR, much better than my HD81-LV could ever do.

So I got a little surprise tonight, my lamp is getting a bit old so I figured I'd order a new one, only to find out the Planar store says it's unavailable "The Replacement Lamp for PD8130, PD8150 is not currently available. Please contact us for availability of this item."

So what's everyone doing for lamps? I'd rather get an OEM one as I'm not fond of "trying my luck" with the off brand ones, but I suppose I could go that route.

Actually, since my current lamp is still going (though probably not as strong as it used to) and my prior one didn't blow either, I opted to order the bare OE lamp from pureland supply, and I think I'll give the procedure in the other thread (linked on the prior page) a try. Though this did get me thinking if I should consider an "upgrade", those B-stock JVCs are mighty tempting...

The 8150 has been replaced / re-badged as a Runco LS-5 if I remember correctly. Either way it is still being sold by Runco. When you call just ask which projector supersedes the 8150 and you can buy a bulb from them or do a search for the part number on Ebay or anyone of the many places to buy bulbs.

David

"You buy a Ferrari when you want to be somebody. You buy a Lamborghini when you are somebody." - Frank Sinatra

Not yet, it was well past business hours when I tried to order.
Actually, since my current lamp is still going (though probably not as strong as it used to) and my prior one didn't blow either, I opted to order the bare OE lamp from pureland supply, and I think I'll give the procedure in the other thread (linked on the prior page) a try. Though this did get me thinking if I should consider an "upgrade", those B-stock JVCs are mighty tempting...

Is there a new LS-5 coming out? I saw the 8150 a few years ago and it seemed a bit sharper and dimensional than my RS10. Was on a smaller screen than mine (106" compared to 133") and I did not get to see a ton of darker scenes. The rs45 and 55's look similar to my rs10, with biggest noticable difference being motion handling is much improved. Only saw the 55 on a 120" screen so the e-shift1 was not much of a differentiator. What would one get from a "new" LS-5 compared to the b-stock rs45 or 55?

So I got a little surprise tonight, my lamp is getting a bit old so I figured I'd order a new one, only to find out the Planar store says it's unavailable "The Replacement Lamp for PD8130, PD8150 is not currently available. Please contact us for availability of this item."
So what's everyone doing for lamps? I'd rather get an OEM one as I'm not fond of "trying my luck" with the off brand ones, but I suppose I could go that route.

If you're up to it, you can always replace just the bulb. I've done this a couple times. It's fairly easy to do. Just make sure you wear gloves when handling the bulb. There's a tutorial a couple pages back with pictures on how to do it properly. You can get a very nice price on the bulb here and they ship out very fast:

The 8150 has been replaced / re-badged as a Runco LS-5 if I remember correctly. Either way it is still being sold by Runco. When you call just ask which projector supersedes the 8150 and you can buy a bulb from them or do a search for the part number on Ebay or anyone of the many places to buy bulbs.

Yup, I ordered a bare lamp from Pureland Supply. I suspect/wonder if Planar is just not selling the OE modules except through the Runco distribution system.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoCaboNow

Is there a new LS-5 coming out? I saw the 8150 a few years ago and it seemed a bit sharper and dimensional than my RS10. Was on a smaller screen than mine (106" compared to 133") and I did not get to see a ton of darker scenes. The rs45 and 55's look similar to my rs10, with biggest noticable difference being motion handling is much improved. Only saw the 55 on a 120" screen so the e-shift1 was not much of a differentiator. What would one get from a "new" LS-5 compared to the b-stock rs45 or 55?

I don't believe there's a new LS5, I haven't read anything (here) about such a beast. A current new LS5 is basically just an 8150 with Runco firmware instead of Planar.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seegs108

If you're up to it, you can always replace just the bulb. I've done this a couple times. It's fairly easy to do. Just make sure you wear gloves when handling the bulb. There's a tutorial a couple pages back with pictures on how to do it properly. You can get a very nice price on the bulb here and they ship out very fast:http://www.dlplampsource.com/planar-997-5268-00-projector-replacement-lamp.html
I've bought from them a couple times. Very good service and the bulbs are genuine.

Yup, that's what I ordered yesterday morning. I was pretty impressed, they shipped it same day and I should have it friday. I've already got a spare lamp (the original one) so I can do the swap without affecting my usage.

Which is why I was looking for the lamp in the first place. It's got 1300 hours (almost 1400 I think) and I've been running in high lamp for a while to recoup some of the oomph. But it was the "difficulty" of finding a replacement lamp and the deal on the RS45/40 that AVS have going now that put the question into my head on if it was a good time to look for something else.

The lamp showed up, took me about 10 minutes to swap out in my old housing. A little fiddly but went pretty smoothly. However I have company coming tonight so I know better than to toss it in tonight, so I'll have to hold out til tomorrow to check out if the new lamp is good and I did the swap correctly.

So I came across a deal on a Radiance XE that was too good to pass up, so I've got a new Radiance on the way. I'm curious to hear opinions of people who have calibrated measured the 8150 or used it with a Radiance. Do you think the 125 point calibration is worth it with the 8150? I know these things are precalibrated and I know there's nothing obvious to complain about with mine. But if there's performance too be had, I'm all for it. I'm also planning to play a bit with the gamma curve and maybe see if I improve the shadow detail a bit perhaps.

Or any other tweaks/cool stuff you can do with a Radiance and an 8105?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Henry

I need a lamp for my 8150. How did your replacement workout?

Sorry I missed/forgot your question, my new lamp is working just great.

I had my first issue with my Planar 8150 this weekend. My wife and I were watching "Nine" and 45 minutes into the film, the image turned to black. I looked up to see what I think was alternate red and green flashing...but it seemed to turn into just red flashing. The projector fan stayed in cool down mode. After about five minutes, I tried turning off the projector completely, but it wouldn't turn off either by remote or manual. I unplugged the unit and waited another 5 mins or so. I turned the projector back on and it played fine for 90 mins until we were done using it. I watched another 2 hours on Sunday and no issues.

I reviewed the manual and depending on the flashing all red or alternative red/green...it would either be an overheating situation (projector is suspended and neither air way is impeded) or a bulb burning out situation (the door could be ajar...but I've not touched it since owning the projector). I ran a search and couldn't find any other members reporting a similar issue. What say you AVS community? Since I bought this from AVS-I know I'm covered.

Thanks for any help!

Ron

PS: The one and only original bulb has less than 950 hours total (econ. mode).

Just had this same issue come up this weekend. Watched a movie one week ago and had not had the projector on since. Went to turn it on last Saturday(2 days ago) and no picture. Light flashing red and green. Unplugged it for a minute or so and then it came back on and watched a movie for about 3 hours. I haven't turned it on since then. rboster, have you had this issue come up again? I only have 400 hrs using standard lamp mode.

I just had the same issue last night, though when I unplugged, plugged it back in, light never came on, then the power button flashed red/green until I pulled the plug again. This was the replacement bulb and housing I bought directly from Planar support (Runco's site) and had about 349 hours on it. Replaced the bulb/housing with the original one I was using as a spare (with about 450 hours) and it worked fine (thanks to my wife who figured out I was trying to put it back in upside down (I left it on the mount on the ceiling)!). I sent their support folks an email asking about warranty information for the bulb/housing, not sure if that's a moot point, but we'll see.

Side note: checking out the Osram site where I ALSO got a spare BULB only, I noticed the price is now $148. Not too bad, considering how much the bulb and housing cost.

is there a way to permanently close the iris? I'm using my Planar with Dynamic Black off and perfectly calibrated via a 3DLUT. Since my screen it's only 92 inches, I'd like to get more contrast closing the iris in a fixed position.

Any idea? May the service manual/menu help me? Is there a service menu I can access to try this?

is there a way to permanently close the iris? I'm using my Planar with Dynamic Black off and perfectly calibrated via a 3DLUT. Since my screen it's only 92 inches, I'd like to get more contrast closing the iris in a fixed position.

Any idea? May the service manual/menu help me? Is there a service menu I can access to try this?

Thanks

No there isn't a way to close it off, there is nothing for that in the service menu. My iris is not working correctly so it stays off. I use an HP 2.8 so black is a bit brighter than I would like on eco. You can add an ND filter to the lens to reduce the light output. I did not do this as my Wife likes the bright image. The lens has a if my memory serves correctly a 72mm standard camera thread. I would shoot for the least dark filter you can get just to tame it a bit without making it to dark requiring high lamp mode.

Thanks airscapes fro your fast reply and suggestion, but actually my purpose was a bit different... I don't want to decrease brightness, I'd like to increase native contrast, which usually increases closing the iris with every projectors... You lost brightness but get contrast.

With a ND filter you linearly decrease every video level, so contrast remains unaffected

Looks like I picked the wrong Planar thread to post in, so here goes again

Hey guys, looking for a bit of a sanity check here (I should probably stop reading the forum and just enjoy my projector). I just replaced the lamp in my 8150, had 1400 or so on the old one and had bumped it into high lamp. Anyway, I "recently" picked up one of the less expensive light meters so I would know what I'm looking at. Anyway I did some measurments before and after and I'm curious if these sound "right" to you:

With my new lamp, I measured 175 Lux in High lamp, and 110 Lux in low. Now I've got an (approx) 110x46" screen with an anamorphic lens so by my math I came up with basically 560/360 Lumens. I'm also at the extreme long end of throw here. The 560 Lumens I think jives with what I've seen, but the 360 seems rather low, though I guess it's "only" 35% lower (sounded like more before I did the math) and I guess that's close to the 30% or so knock you get with eco mode usually. So question 1, do these numbers sound reasonable?

Question 2 is, or maybe just interesting observation, but when I measured the old lamp, I got 145/100 Lux (470/330 Lumens) which is less than a 20% drop in High lamp and only about 10% in Eco, which surprised me.

The other question is, how much brighter is the Planar at the close end of it's throw? I'm wondering if I should consider moving it more to the close end of the throw.